'Am I gonna be arrested?' Move to overhaul Blueprint structure fails amid more drama

Amid criticism from some members that the Blueprint board has become “dysfunctional” and “marginalized” as it oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax projects, the board opted not to pursue changes to the agency’s organizational structure.

On Thursday, during a contentious meeting in which its quorum fell apart after several city commissioners walked out, the Blueprint board voted against having a workshop to discuss the matter. Had the measure passed, it would have set the table for potential changes to the interlocal agreement between the city and county that governs how the Blueprint board functions, including the possibility of having senior staff report to the elected leaders who serve on the board.

But staff told the board, which consists of all 12 city and county commissioners, that it can’t make changes to the interlocal agreement, and thus the Blueprint structure, without sign-off by both the city and county commissions meeting in separate sessions.

County Commissioner Bill Proctor — who refused to vote on a related item and asked at one point "am I gonna be arrested, madam chair?" — expressed deep frustrations about the current system.

“We are disempowered as a body in an agreement that forces us to be divided and conquered by going to our respective daises,” Proctor said. “We’re castrated up here, and I’m tired of that.”

The Blueprint board, officially known as the Intergovernmental Agency, voted in November for staff to bring back an information item on restructuring. The item recommended that the information be accepted with no action taken.

City Commissioner Jack Porter said the item itself read like a “defense” of the current structure and was an example of why she feels “change is needed.” She noted that staff recommended earlier in the meeting against adding affordable housing as a possible Blueprint project despite a 9-3 vote in November to initiate the process to do just that.

“I’m concerned because I think there’s no acknowledgment here of what is obvious, which is there is dysfunction on this board,” Porter said. “I think that’s evident in some of these meetings.”

Later in the night, Mayor John Dailey left the meeting, followed by City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson. Their exits, which came without explanation at the time, left the board without a quorum and forced it to adjourn before it could vote on two big projects, the Airport and North Monroe Street gateways.

Debate over how Blueprint operates comes as board members have expressed support for changing certain projects to free up funding for their own priorities. It follows previous sparring between Proctor and Susan Dawson, the Blueprint attorney.

During its last meeting in November, Proctor said he didn’t “respect” Dawson’s legal advice and that he didn’t care what she had to say about the IA’s authority. On Thursday, both Proctor and Porter said their comments weren’t “personal.”

But Williams-Cox, who voted against holding a workshop on the IA’s structure, questioned that.

“What’s different that requires us to change if it’s not personal?” she asked.

Commissioner Bill Proctor: 'What are you going to do, have me arrested?'

The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency was created in 2000 via interlocal agreement between the city and county. The agreement was last amended in 2017 to include the Office of Economic Vitality, the city and county’s joint economic development office.

Under the current structure, the Blueprint director, Autumn Calder, attorney, Susan Dawson, and OEV director, Keith Bowers, all report to Artie White, the director of city/county Planning, Land Management and Community Enhancement. White in turn is supervised jointly by City Manager Reese Goad and County Administrator Vince Long, who comprise the two-person Intergovernmental Management Agency, or IMC.

White told IA members that because the interlocal agreement was approved by the city and county commissions, it could only be amended by the two boards. He also touted the Blueprint agency’s track record of success, including Cascades Park, built with proceeds from the previous sales tax that began in 2000.

“The current organizational structure of Blueprint delivers results,” White said. “You can see that across the community. You can look at something like the previous Blueprint 2000 projects, and you can see what used to be a contaminated area with a chain link fence around it is now a world class park.”

City Commissioner Curtis Richardson moved to support staff’s recommendation — to accept the report with no further action. Drama ensued after Proctor made a substitute motion to bring back a modified local agreement, which White and Dawson said was improper.

City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow appealed the ruling. The board then voted on whether to support an apparent decision by the Blueprint chair, County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings, that Proctor’s motion was improper. Cummings couldn’t be heard explicitly making that ruling, Proctor noted.

“The chair did not make that ruling,” Proctor said. “Artie did. I will not vote on that.”

Dawson told him he had to vote. Under Florida law, elected local board members must vote on items before them absent an actual or perceived conflict of interest.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t abstain,” Dawson said. “You have to vote. That’s the law.”

“Here you go again,” Proctor said. “Tell the law I will not vote on that because I disagree on what I heard. Play the tape back. What are you going to do, have me arrested?”

“Commissioner Proctor, you won’t be arrested, but I just want you to be in order,” Cummings said before the board voted overwhelmingly to sustain her ruling.

Blueprint board vote puts issue to rest

After more than an hour of conversation, Dailey suggested the board vote on Richardson’s motion to accept the report. He noted a lawsuit is still pending in court that Matlow filed against Blueprint in 2022 seeking to force the IMC to operate under the Sunshine Law. The agency argues the IMC is a staff function not subject to open meeting requirements.

“Might I remind everybody that Commissioner Matlow is currently suing the IA over a transparency issue,” Dailey said. “I would actually as a non-attorney advise everybody to not discuss this anymore while there’s an active lawsuit going on.”

Dawson said Matlow’s lawsuit “does present somewhat of a conflict,” but added it was up to the elected officials to decide. Board members voted 11-1 to accept the staff report. Matlow later said he felt comfortable voting and that the lawsuit wasn’t germane to the discussion.

Leon County Commissioner Christian Caban — who expressed support for changing Blueprint’s structure — moved to have a workshop to discuss it. He said if his motion lost, he would drop the subject.

“The way I’m looking at it is vote up/down,” he said. “If it’s done, it’s done, we’re done with the conversation. That way we have clarity on the situation.”

The board voted 6-6 on the motion, with Matlow, Porter, Caban, Cummings, County Commissioner David O’Keefe and Proctor in support, and Dailey, Richardson, Williams-Cox, County Commissioners Nick Maddox, Rick Minor and Brian Welch opposed. It failed 32-34 under Blueprint’s weighted voting system, which gives each of the seven county commissioners five points and each of the five city commissioners seven points.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee, Leon commissioners fail to overhaul Blueprint structure